KNOWLEDGE BASE

Millions of people have problems with alcohol
abuse all over the world and they don’t know that virus can help fight
alcoholism. Drinking alcohol in a long term could harm liver, stomach, bones,
cardiovascular system and mostly brain. Alcohol use disorder it is the result
of chronic heavy alcohol drinking. It is a big problem not only for alcoholic
but also for his family and whole society. It is so hard to quit drinking
alcohol. It has big influence on brain so to make a decision to stop drinking
it is a big challenge for alcoholic. Every day he needs to get some alcohol
drink because it is necessary for him to feel better.

Texas A&M University Health Science Centre
found that alcohol changes information in the brain. As a result brain craves
more alcohol. In the end the more you drink, the more you want it. Scientists
found out how to mitigate changes in brain. They can reduce the desire to drink
with help of genetically engineered virus.

Is it possible that virus can help fight alcoholism?

Alcohol abuse is a chronic brain disease with
abnormal connections between neurons. Striatum it is a part of brain where
experts found the biggest number of changes that appeared as a result of
drinking addiction. This part of our brain is responded for what we see, what
we hear and also sends order to control motivations and behavior. It is located
in forebrain. It is responsible for addiction drugs or alcohol, too.

If somebody drinks alcohol too much or use drugs
it can increase the level of dopamine in his body. Dopamine responds for
pleasure and motivation and neurons in the striatum have higher densities of
its receptors then in other neurons in our brain. Neurons from striatum are easier
to change in dopamine levels. There are two types of neurons which encourage
behavior in striatum: D1 and D2. They have opposite functions. D1 controls
behavior in way of “go” and D2 control “no-go” actions. They are like green and
red light in traffic lights. In alcohol addiction green light is constantly
switched on. Red light doesn’t light up at all and you can’t stop drinking. And
because of that you need more and more alcohol.

Scientists made an experiment with modification
of both neurons in striatum. They used a process called viral mediated gene
transfer. They manipulated “go” and “no-go” neurons in mice brain. Mice were
infected with a genetically engineered virus. It delivers a gene into neurons,
which drives them to express a kind of protein. After that the mice were injected
with a chemical that recognizes and binds to proteins. This way scientist can
inhibit or promote activity in those two neurons – simply change the green
light to red light. After this they found out that this experiment let them
find the way to reduce successfully alcohol
drinking levels. Also they found out that if we put directly a medication that
will excite the red light in the brain, we can reduce alcohol consumption as
well. This way they can help to find a clinical treatment for alcoholism.

Using a virus to treat alcoholism in humans
still a long way off but now we have medications such as Naltrexone, to help
people stop drinking can be effective.